The Newburgh Free Academy Varsity football team will head to the state championships after capturing an important victory in the Class AA state semi-finals on Saturday night. The win took place on the Middletown High School’s field.
The Newburgh Goldbacks, a Section 9 team, clinched a 31-20 victory over Christian Brothers Academy, a Section 2 team, for rights to play in the state championship. The Goldbacks advanced to a 10-2 record this season. Christian Brothers Academy, which entered this game undefeated, ended with a 12-1 record.
The Goldbacks had a rough start to their season, suffering back-to-back losses to New Rochelle and Corning in their first two non-league games of the season. From there, Newburgh took off and won every remaining game of the season. Their first league game ended in a 30-0 shutout over Middletown. Just one week later, Newburgh secured another shutout in a 40-0 non-league win versus Warwick.
In the last game of their regular season, Newburgh clinched a 21-14 victory against Monroe-Woodbury, securing rights to head to the Section 9 finals. Newburgh beat Middletown 35-0 to secure the Section 9 championship in what was the Goldbacks’ third shutout of the year.
From there, Newburgh advanced to the Class AA quarterfinal and defeated Carmel 26-20 in overtime. This win brought Newburgh to Saturday night’s Class AA semi-final against Christian Brothers Academy.
Newburgh will now face Bennett/Olmstead/Middle Early College of Buffalo in the state final. The game will be played under the dome at Syracuse University on Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 3:00pm.
Bennett currently has a 6-6 record, although four of those losses were actual wins. The school was forced to forfeit those previous wins due to paperwork violations. Prior to the forfeits, their record was 10-2, which is the same as Newburgh’s record.
